As this warrior pressed on, he passed by the temptations of worldly power and chose to sacrifice for a greater reward. Eventually, the warrior met his destiny and was invited into the presence of God, where he was rewarded with flocks and herds of God's livestock. He no longer had to raid and fight for his provision.
However, upon his return home, his brother saw all he was given and decided, against the warrior's counsel, to try to go and get the same blessings from God. In his own strength this attempt was futile, and as he chose instant gratification and worldly blessings along his journey, he was eventually rejected by God and sent home. All he kept were the things he had accumulated on his journey, namely, a sword, an ax, and other weapons. In the end, this brother - prideful and ambitious - was condemned to continue in a life of fighting to survive, and would not be blessed with the abundance only God gives.
This year, we have had the pleasure of hiring a young man named Lukas as one of our gatekeepers and guards. Lukas comes from a Maasai family in Ngorongoro, an area of northern Tanzania famous for its breathtaking landscapes, wildlife safaris, and Maasai villages. It is, as the Maasai believe it to be, God's country.
Lukas is an incredible young man. He has qualities unusual to many Tanzanian people groups (as do many Maasai). He is tall and athletically built, he is industrious and hard-working, and to this date we have seen him to be a man of principal and character. Not to indict all Tanzanians, but these are cultural characteristics often lacking in this impoverished African nation. And as a Maasai man, he is often treated by his own countrymen as an outcast or an unwelcome stranger. But even in barren lands there are diamonds in the rough to be found.
Lukas has told us many stories of the Maasai rites of passage, of his village life back in Ngorongoro, and of his family and their plight. We have asked why he is here, how he got halfway across the country to Kigoma, and what he wants out of life. With every story we are told we have been impressed by a young man working hard to support his aging mother and young siblings, and who never has asked for anything from us besides what he has worked for already.
Recently, in an evening worship time our family and team was having, Donna felt it heavy on her heart to invite him in and to pray over him. She had said she saw him being washed by the presence of God, and felt as if there was something the Lord wanted us to know in regards to Lukas. So we responded to the prompting of the Spirit, and Lukas joined us for a time. As the time unfolded, we felt led to ask him if there was anything he was concerned about.
For the next 30 minutes Lukas told us about his mother. She is raising four young children alone in a poor village in Ngorogoro, and fighting a chronic illness of some 15+ years. As her eldest son, he has spent the last several years bearing the burden of trying to work to support her and get her what is at best shoddy medical care. He is indebted to friends, family, and neighbors for the help they have offered him, to the point that his burden is virtually impossible to overcome with the finances and work he is able to get. Again, his story came with no hint of a request for our help. All he wanted was work so he could take care of his own business. Needless to say, our hearts broke for him and we began to seek God about how to help.
In the culture we live in, the need for money is constant and urgent. Everyone we know needs money they simply cannot earn. Almost everyone we know here is one bad accident, or one serious fever, from a catastrophic event that could render them helpless or handicap them for years to come. Many are so desperate that simple disease or injury begins a chain reaction that culminates in a senseless death. But nonetheless, even in spite of what we have, we simply cannot answer with money all of the time. It's not only unrealistic to try to fund the solution to every problem we are presented with, but it often backfires into an unhealthy reliance that further decays a person's ability to create solutions of their own.
In any case, we are here for one purpose - building people - and we are willing to use whatever means we have to do that as the Spirit of God leads us. With Lukas, we felt we needed to try and get his mom some real medical care - to at least once get a clear diagnosis of her problem and be able to help him make a real plan that could lead to some sort of improvement.
Last week, Lukas began a journey home to get his mom, place his siblings in the safe care of some neighbors, and bring her to a doctor here in Kigoma from the U.S. We are praying that this Maasai man has an encounter with God on his journey, and meets a God whose loving kindness is overwhelming. We believe that Lukas, who already calls Jesus his lord, would get to see the goodness of his God in action. As a man whose tribal culture sees character, humility, and perseverance as noble traits worthy of God's reward, we hope he sees the hand of God move in this moment in a way that his own nobility could never deserve, and that the free grace of our awesome God is actually looking for ways to reach into his life at every turn.
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